In recent years, some mobile technology developers have developed Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies that facilitate short-range communication between NFC-enabled mobile devices and unpowered NFC tags. These NFC tags may be programmed with messages that cause the NFC-enabled mobile devices to perform one or more automated tasks. For example, a user may direct his or her NFC-enabled mobile phone to scan an NFC tag presented in a public display (such as an advertising board and/or movie poster). In response to scanning this NFC tag, the NFC-enabled mobile phone may receive a message that causes the mobile phone to change one or more configuration settings, create and send one or more text messages, and/or launch one or more applications.
In addition to causing NFC-enabled mobile devices to perform innocuous automated tasks, NFC tags may also be programmed with messages that include potentially malicious content (such as a malicious executable and/or a link to a malicious website). In an effort to detect such content, some mobile technology developers may incorporate NFC security technologies that perform malware scans on messages received from NFC tags. Unfortunately, traditional NFC security technologies may still have one or more shortcomings and/or inefficiencies. For example, a traditional NFC security technology may be unable to warn a mobile device user about a potentially malicious NFC tag prior to scanning the NFC tag. Additionally or alternatively, the traditional NFC security technology may be unable to detect potentially malicious content included in a message received from an NFC tag that represents a zero-day threat.
As such, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for systems and methods for warning mobile device users in advance about potentially malicious NFC tags.